Eco-economic decoupling

<p>In <a href="/facts/Economic/okLWSsEY">economic</a> and <a href="/facts/Environmental_policy/rB24mGBK">environmental</a> fields, decoupling refers to an economy that would be able to <a href="/facts/Economic_growth/kEXm3jWm">grow</a> without corresponding increases in <a href="/facts/Environmental_sustainability/9oYH9mAs">environmental</a> pressure. In many economies, increasing production (<a href="/facts/GDP/zQRgyFKc">GDP</a>) raises pressure on the environment. An economy that would be able to sustain <a href="/facts/Economic_growth/kEXm3jWm">economic growth</a> while reducing the amount of resources such as water or <a href="/facts/Fossil_fuels/BPgxAqB7">fossil fuels</a> used and delink environmental deterioration at the same time would be said to be decoupled. Environmental pressure is often measured using emissions of <a href="/facts/Pollutant/4f9kmFzq">pollutants</a>, and decoupling is often measured by the <a href="/facts/Emission_intensity/NwSbRERk">emission intensity</a> of economic output.     
</p><p>Studies have found that absolute decoupling was rare and that only a few industrialised countries had weak decoupling of GDP from "consumption-based" CO2 production. No evidence was found of national or international economy-wide decoupling in a study in 2020. In cases where evidence of decoupling exists, one proposed explanation is the transition to a <a href="/facts/Service_economy/QjJBuCbg">service economy</a>. The <a href="/facts/Kuznets_curve/lWyexCvC">environmental Kuznets curve</a> is a proposed model for eco-economic decoupling.
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Eco-economic decoupling open-in-new

Eco-economic decoupling